Books: Former columnist's collection explores morality

Sunday

Feb 16, 2014 at 6:00 AM

By Chris BergeronDaily News staff

As a writer, Bob Biederman always aimed at "getting under readers’ skin.’’So in his collection of recollections, "Marbles: frontiers of mor(t)ality,’’ he begins an article by recalling, "Three years before my mother starved to death in a nursing home in Needham …’’And he opens his account of a teenage suicide by wondering, "How do you shoot yourself twice?’’Readers won’t be surprised Biederman’s book includes a front cover blurb describing its contents as "A mixed bag of life’s hard little edgeless moments.’’A former columnist for the Middlesex News from 1994 to 1995, freelance journalist and longtime publisher of magazines about condominiums, he has brought together 21 stories, essays and recollections that explore "moral judgments made in the face of mortality.’’ Most originated as letters that Biederman "restructured'' into essays that straddle the boundary between journalism and personal observations."I wanted to know what do you do in the moment that defines you,’’ Biederman said from his current home in Long Beach, Calif. "What do people do in the face of death? How does that define them? It scrapes away the b.s."Compassionate rather than callous, Biederman’s stories carry readers beyond the opening shock he used to lure them in to nuanced examinations of the complex ties that bind – and wound – families, including his own.In "Mother,’’ he concludes his recollection of his mother’s death by adding, "My older brother decided he would not forgive her for staying married to our father.’’That older brother, Jerry, who’s taught in Japan for many years, gave him his book’s title when he explained long ago their family name, if written phonetically, could mean "beauty peace fullness.’’But, if spoken as one word, Biederman meant "marbles.’’So he has arranged his book as if pulling marbles – some comic, some bitter, some poignant – from a bag of memories. He described his approach as "an uncompromising look at life’s hardest moments, narrated with warmth and humility.’’Several of Biederman’s most powerful stories turn on quirks and improbabilities often carrying readers to unexpected conclusions.One story chronicles the roller-coaster finances of real estate magnate Harold Brown who recovered from a $653 million bankruptcy to build a $1.2 billion empire.His opening story, "TIP Time: Surviving on the frontier’’ begins with tabloid details of an 18-year-old boy dead "from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the face’’ after the initial shot to his midsection didn’t kill him.Then Biederman shifts gears as he recalls his years volunteering to help strangers cope with traumatic loss and the harrowing night he helped a father deal with the suicide of his son, just as he’d had to deal with his own abusive father’s suicide years before.Sounds grim. But it isn’t.By each story’s end, Biederman generally discovers a glimmer of light at the end of these dark nights of the soul that testify to human endurance or the sheer refusal to abandon hope.As a writer, Biederman’s strength is his ability to cultivate a voice that makes readers feel they’re hearing about aging bikers making a tough journey through Baja first hand at a bar from a guy who rode with them.Born in Brighton but raised in Newton, he attributes his style’s gruff intimacy to the years he spent writing and receiving letters from his expatriate older brother who left a troubled home to live in Japan.As far as formal influence go, Biederman cites author Joseph Heller, who captured life’s "pervasive absurdities’’ in his novel "Catch-22.’’Like Yossarian, Heller’s anti-hero, Biederman regards his journalistic job as asking the "uncomfortable questions’’ to get to the heart of his hard-edged human dramas."As a writer, I decided I never wanted to be boring. I want my readers to say, ‘That was interesting,’ ’’ he said. "It’s not that I’m great shakes as a writer. But I think I have something to say.’’Biederman’s book is available through Amazon.com, BarnesandNoblecom or by visiting www.robertbiederman.com.Chris Bergeron is a Daily News staff writer. Contact him at cbergeron@wickedlocal.com or 508-626-4448. Follow us on Twitter @WickedLocalArts and on Facebook.